MINISTER FOR Agriculture Simon Coveney defended cuts he had to impose since taking office when he addressed his first major meeting with Irish Farmers’ Association members in Tullamore, Co Offaly.
He told farmers attending a beef seminar there was going to be no “double speak” from him but the blunt facts were he had to fight “like hell” for every euro for schemes and would have to continue fighting.
“We have to cut €200 million from my department’s current and capital programme before the next budget, and I am not going to lie to people that I have money for schemes when I do not.”
He said he had to fight for three weeks with Cabinet colleagues to get the Agriculture Options Scheme to replace the Rural Environment Protection Scheme and it was a miracle it happened at all.
Klaus-Dieter Borchardt, a senior EU official, said direct payments to farmers would remain in place but the Single Farm Payment would not remain in the same form. The payment would be broken down in six sections.
He said talks were ongoing on whether there would be a flat payment per hectare and he knew this would cause difficulty in Ireland. However, the historic system which was based on premia payments at the beginning of the century could not be kept in place.
Irish farmers should not be too worried about proposals for the “greening” of the Single Farm Payment but he was concerned the commission might cut the agricultural share of the budget.